Understanding wireless connectivity in the industrial IoT

Developers of industrial systems, once freed from the restrictions of cables, are discovering new ways to increase efficiencies and productivity, cut costs and better control processes and equipment. In fact, the only limit on industrial wireless applications appears to be the imagination of developers.

Enabled by ultra-low power sensors and wireless communications devices, as well as highly integrated microcontrollers (MCUs), the IoT is quickly spreading throughout traditional industrial markets like factory and building automation, the energy infrastructure, smart lighting, as well as non-industrial markets such as automotive, retail, health care and others. In many cases, new wireless applications interoperate and enhance the established wired systems, providing value-added capabilities that ride the air waves instead of the wires. For instance, what had been a complex human/machine interface (HMI) can now run as a convenient app on a smartphone or tablet in the wireless industrial IoT. Moreover, tapping into powerful cloud-based analytics in real time adds another dimension to the sophistication of industrial applications.

Of course, system designers should consider a number of factors with regards to wireless connectivity. These include choosing the particular wireless technology that best fits the requirements and use cases of the application, the power consumption and the compatibility of the technology with other devices such as sensors, MCUs, gateways, servers and others, the ease of integrating wireless technology into industrial equipment, cloud connectivity and security.